Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski

Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski (8 July 1824-31 January 1887) was a Brigadier-General of the US Army during the American Civil War and the commander of the all-immigrant 58th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Biography
Wlodzimierz Krzyzanowski was born in Ruschdorf, Grand Duchy of Posen, Prussia (now Roznowo, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland) in 1824 to an old family of Polish nobility. His father and uncles served in the Grande Armee under Napoleon I, while his brother fought in the 1830 uprising against the Russian Empire. Krzyzanowski took part in the 1848 uprising against Prussia, and he fled to Hamburg, Germany, and then to the United States to escape arrest. He became a civil engineer and surveyor in Virginia, pushing America's railroads into the American West.

Civil War
Krzyzanowski founded his own prosperous railroad company in America and became involved with Republican Party politics before the American Civil War broke out in 1861, upon which he recruited the 58th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment in New York City; he became the colonel of the all-immigrant regiment, and he led it into battle with the Army of the Potomac. The 58th New York was nicknamed "The Polish Legion" due to many of its members being Polish immigrants, but it also contained immigrants from Germany, Italy, Denmark, Russia, and France, all of whom were prepared to die fighting for their adoptive country. The regiment fought in northern Virginia in 1862, and he distinguished himself at the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg as a Brigadier-General. Krzyzanowski was wounded on the first day of battle, but he counterattacked against the Confederate States Army on the second day and stabilized the Union line. In September 1863, his regiment was sent to Tennessee to fight off the Confederate siege of Chattanooga, and he was present at the Battle of Missionary Ridge. When the XI Corps dissolved, Krzyzanowski and his regiment were sent to guard the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad in Bridgeport, Alabama, and he was mustered out of service in October 1865 after the war's end. He was given governing duties in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Virginia during Reconstruction, and he served as the first administrator of the Alaska Territory after the 1867 Alaska Purchase. He died in New York City, New York in 1887 at the age of 62.